Home Style || Collaborative Post
Whatever it is that interests you from heavy metal to minimalism, translating your tastes to create the perfect interior for your home can be tricky. You may know already what styles you like, but have no idea how to put it all together or where to shop.
We can get home decor inspiration in many ways, from flicking through home mags, seeing something striking in your favourite bar in Brighton, local craft boutiques in Norwich, quite literally anything from anywhere can inspire us. But how can we simply take that idea home and adapt it for every day living that's both comfortable and practical? This is where the fun begins.
We can get home decor inspiration in many ways, from flicking through home mags, seeing something striking in your favourite bar in Brighton, local craft boutiques in Norwich, quite literally anything from anywhere can inspire us. But how can we simply take that idea home and adapt it for every day living that's both comfortable and practical? This is where the fun begins.
Here are a few tips on collating your favourite designs and harnessing that inspiration to make it just right for you, your family and your home ...
Find your anchor piece for each room
Finding an anchor piece is the perfect way to begin a room design, regardless of the room type or use. Whether it's a child's bedroom or main living area, find one thing that is pure perfection for your style. This could be a framed picture, soft furnishings, an ornament, that perfect wallpaper, a comfy sofa, again literally anything. Once you have your 'anchor piece', you can build the room around it by picking out colours, textures and shapes and complimenting your favourite piece with suitable wall dressings and accessories. There are plenty of ways to compliment your anchor piece, for example if your anchor piece is a hand carved ornament from your trip to Africa, you could choose a boho style warm room, or you could go with a natural fibres room with a more minimalist look, it's all down to what you like and this is where you need to do a little more research...
Create some Pinterest boards
You may want to create boards for individual rooms or purely for your home in general if you have a theme that will run throughout. The Internet sure does have its pitfalls, but when it comes to things like Pinterest, this it's an absolute treasure of a tool to have at your fingertips. Create boards, search for your style if you know it or generic interior design ideas if not. Save anything that grabs your eye to your boards and hopefully you will begin to see a pattern emerge as to the things that you truly love. You may see a theme of colours, cooler tones, warmer tones or something more 'nature' related. You could find inspiration specifically for your home type as what may work in an old Victorian home may not work so well in a sleek modern new build. That said, there is no reason that any style can't work in any home, you may just need to work a little harder to achieve the look you want. There are also heaps of upcycling ideas on Pinterest, so if you're on a smaller budget it's well worth seeing what you can do with the things you already have.
Collect samples
While you're out, collect anything that inspires you or simply feels nice to be around. This doesn't have to be straight forward wallpaper samples or colour swatches, it could be a pattern on clothing, something from nature or even just something with a texture that you like the look or feel of. You could just take photos on your travels of anything that takes your eye if it's not something you can sample. After a while, have a look at your samples and see what you like best, what works well together and use this data in your home decor shopping. Look for patterns in nature, colours that work well together or industrial fittings that you could use at home.
Start Small with a vignette
The best way to test out your style in real living terms is to create the look in one small space. Choose a dresser top, a wall or simply a classic mantle place and set up a small sample of the style you are considering for the room, much like a still life set up. If after living with this for a few days/weeks you find it makes you smile when you see it, then you can slowly expand to the room itself. This process is called creating a vignette, and it's an age old trick in decorating to dip your toes in before going all out.
Check out the shops
Quite often in shops they will have mock up rooms and areas to show off their products in a 'real life' setting. This gives you a great idea of how to play with space, how to make areas like living rooms more cosy and realistically how big bulky items will look in a room. Sometimes they will have painted or wallpapered walls which may inspire you in a completely different direction and give good ideas for storage. Don't be afraid to take notes as you go round and take pictures where you're allowed, so that you can remember the things you liked if your memory fails you when you're home.
Having a blank canvas of a home can be a blessing and a curse, but in contrast a lived in home needing renovations can be even harder work with lots of work being needed throughout before you even get to the fun parts. Whatever your home style, with a little research and a lot of eye opening, you will soon be able to get all the inspiration you need to create the perfect home for you and your family.
Where do you get your home inspiration from?
